


Zero-Sum

by ladygray99



Series: Monterey [5]
Category: Numb3rs
Genre: Community: sniper_voodoo, Courtship, Cross-Posted on LiveJournal, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, F/M, M/M, Polyamory, Voyeurism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-14
Updated: 2011-06-14
Packaged: 2017-10-20 10:12:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/211683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladygray99/pseuds/ladygray99
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Amita had heard the expression ‘seeing red’.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Zero-Sum

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings/Spoilers: Ultimatum  
> Notes: Written for the sniper_voodoo January Rewatch Challenge. And yes this is so late it’s embarrassing.

Amita was furious. She had heard the expression ‘seeing red’ but never in her life had she actually experienced a red haze over her vision to go with her heart pounding in her chest and her fingernails biting into her palms.

The two men in front of her were babbling.

“Shut up!” she screamed, not caring if the neighbors heard.

Charlie and Ian went silent.

Amita knew Charlie was going to pick up Ian at the jail once all the paperwork went through. She had not expected to come home and step into the garage to find her fiancé and Agent Edgerton trying to swallow each other’s faces.

Amita sucked a long breath through her teeth. She could still hear the blood pounding in her ears.

“How long?” she asked, having to force out each word.

“Amita...” Charlie tried.

“I asked how long.”

“About six years but not for a long time,” Ian said plainly.

Amita turned her eyes to him. “He is my fiancé.”

“I know,” Ian said. “I'm sorry. I'm the one who pushed. I'll just go.”

“Wait,” Charlie cried out.

“Don't,” Amita snapped at the same moment. “Don't fucking move, either of you.”

A small part of Amita's brain pointed out that Edgerton could kill her in a heartbeat and they'd never find the bits but for right now rage was doing all the talking.

Despite that Ian went still.

Amita took a few more breaths and turned to Charlie. “Do you love him?” she asked in what she hoped was her calmest voice.

“Amita...”

“I asked you a question, Charlie.”

“I love you,” he blurted out.

“Still not answering my question.”

Charlie's jaw worked silently for a moment. “I... I care for him.” Amita noted surprise on Edgerton's face. “I try not to,” Charlie continued. “We fought years ago, our lives don't match. I... I try not to think about it.”

Amita watched as the eyes of the man she was supposed to marry began to fill with tears. She looked over at Edgerton whose face was a mask of guilt. Amita pried her fingernails out of her palms.

“Neither of you move. I will be back and we will talk because I will not have this hanging over us, Charlie.”

With that, Amita left. Left the garage, left the house and just started walking. Charlie's neighborhood was reasonably safe and she took herself on a long loop around a couple of blocks. She was sure she looked like a mad woman as she ranted and grumbled to herself.

As she walked she let her mind jump around from dark fantasies involving poison and sulphuric acid to the logical logistics of moving out, splitting up community property, finding a new job. She wondered if they'd have her at CERN.

She wasn't sure how long she'd walked but the sun was low in the sky and the shadows long when she opened the front door again.

She more than half expected the house to be completely empty. Instead Ian and Charlie were sitting quietly at either end of the dining room table. Both were still and Charlie looked the picture of misery as he lifted his face from his hands to look at her. For a half second she let her heart melt.

She pulled a chair away from the table and sat so she could look at both men at the same time.

Edgerton was still as a statue, his face unreadable.

Amita folded her hands in her lap and tried to steady herself. “What are we going to do?” Her voice was soft and calm. At first no one said anything.

“I should go,” Ian finally said. Charlie's head snapped around. “There shouldn't be any discussion. You two have got the American Dream going here. I'll go and stay away, I promise.”

“Ian...” Charlie's voice caught hard in his throat.

“No.” Amita had already thought about this. “You can't keep that promise. You'll go wherever a hunt takes you and that includes LA and you'll use whichever tool will catch you your bad guy and that includes Charlie. And if the two of you were capable of maintaining a _professional_ relationship we wouldn't be sitting here so, what are we going to do?”

There was silence. The clock on the wall ticked and kept ticking.

Amita sighed. “Okay, what does everyone _want_?”

There was more silence.

Amita slapped her thighs. “Okay, I'll start. I want to get married, to Charlie Eppes. Maybe even have a couple of kids in a few years. I want it to be a happy and loving marriage. I want my extended family to see my wedding and maybe in a decade or so even approve of it.”

Ian snorted and Amita couldn't help the sharp look she sent at him.

He raised his hands a little. “Hey, I've spent plenty of time in central Asia, I get it. Are you going to make him ride the white horse or the elephant?”

“It's harder than you'd think to rent an elephant in this town. Maybe the horse.”

“What?” Charlie snapped. “What horse, you didn't say anything about a horse?”

“We'll talk about that later, _dear_. Now, I've stated what I want, what do the two of you want?”

There was another long stretch of silence.

“I want a clean bullet to the head in about ten years,” Ian said suddenly. Amita couldn't even start to hide her shock at that answer. Charlie's jaw dropped too. “My entire life fits into a backpack. My idea of quality accommodations is a waterproof tent. I am legally homeless. Right now I can live like that, I like living like that, I'm good at it, but at some point my vision is going to slip or my hands will start shaking or one of the joints I've abused over the years is going to give out and I'm going to be forced to retire or take up teaching or something and my broken body will get pawned off on one of my sisters and I don't think I can survive that way. I'd rather just go out quick and clean before I end up losing my marbles in the old agents’ home and frankly no one would be too broken up about it.”

Amita just gave a small nod even as she heard Charlie make a small sobbing noise.

She turned her focus to Charlie. He had tears in his eyes. “What do you want, Charlie?”

Charlie opened his mouth but not a sound came out. He swallowed hard and tried again. “I... I want everyone to be happy. I want to be a good husband for you, Amita. I want to be a wonderful father for your children. I want my dad to be proud of me. I want Don to stop second guessing himself. I want Larry to find his bliss. I want Ian to _not_ put a bullet in his head and be okay with that. I...” Charlie faltered again.

“What do you want for yourself?” Amita snapped “And don't say the answer to P vs. NP.”

Charlie was quiet and Amita easily read his face. He was pulling into his head trying to think hard and fast. She glanced quickly at Ian who was also watching Charlie closely.

Finally Charlie climbed out of his head. He looked at Amita. “When... I remember the day we met. You came to my office hours. You were so full of questions, and every question I answered just created five more. And I couldn't help but marvel at the way your mind could just make vast leaps from one concept to the next. It was staggering. I also remember it was summer school and you were wearing these short shorts and this tank top that barely qualified as decent and I spent the whole hour trying to remember what it was like to fall into a Jersey cranberry bog in winter so I wouldn't embarrass myself.”

Amita felt herself blush a little. It hadn't been that warm that day and she had gotten those shorts just for that hour of her life.

Charlie turned to Ian. “Ian, when I first met you I could not stand you. You were an arrogant thug and you were pissing all over my turf with my brother's permission. I'm the Great Doctor Charles Eppes, boy wonder. Nobody questions my work, nobody fights me. But you did. You pushed and I pushed back and we just kept pushing at each other. And then you had to go save my life and make things complicated. I thought I could handle a couple quick hook-ups. Then we had that weekend in Monterey. No Doctor Eppes, no Agent Edgerton, just Charlie and Ian and I learned what kind of music you like and that you put mustard on your tuna and things just went from complicated to hard.” Charlie folded his hands into his lap and lowered his head. “What I want is the both of you. I can't stop caring about either of you and I've tried. God knows I've tried. And I don't want to hurt either of you but I have and... I... I think we're in a zero-sum game and I have no solution.”

Amita's heart was pounding again. She'd felt Charlie's answer coming but it was still a jolt to hear him actually say those words.

“Okay.” Amita heard her voice squeak. “We're back to the first question. What are we going to do?”

There was silence again. Amita had to admit that she was out of ideas, or at least ideas she wanted to seriously consider while still mad.

“Doctor Ramanujan?” Ian said suddenly.

“Yes, Agent Edgerton.”

“Would you do me the courtesy of accompanying me to dinner tomorrow night?”

Amita's brain ground to a halt. “Excuse me?”

“Would you go out with me to dinner tomorrow night?”

“Why?”

“Because I think it might be good if we got to know each other a bit better. I know Charlie, Charlie knows you, you know him but I don't really know you and you don't really know me. Maybe we should change that.”

Amita looked to Charlie. He didn't look upset in the slightest. Instead his face was full of curiosity as he looked back and forth between the two of them.

“I don't...”

“I'm being ordered to take six weeks out of the 18 months of vacation time I have saved up. It was also _strongly suggested_ I stay in the LA area so Eppes and company can keep half an eye on me. If you go out to dinner with me tomorrow night I promise I will not be alone in a room with Charlie for the next six weeks.”

Charlie's face shifted from curious to startled and back to curious. Amita had to admit that curiosity was making headway against the anger. One of the drawbacks of being a scientist. “Okay,” she finally said. “Tomorrow, seven.”

“Seven,” he repeated then stood. “I'll go now. You two probably want to talk.” And with that Ian gave Charlie a small nod and left.

She looked at Charlie and thought about all the things she wanted to say to him but had a nasty feeling he might start crying or try to justify his actions with math. She couldn't handle either of those things right now. “Charlie, I'm going to take a shower and go to bed and we'll talk in the morning.”

~

Amita looked at herself in the mirror. She wasn't sure what to wear on her “date” and after changing five times Charlie pulled a dress from her closet. It was a deep red, stretchy, wrap around dress that she seldom wore because it always either felt too formal or not formal enough.

The doorbell rang. She grabbed her purse and went downstairs. The door was open. Charlie was sitting on the far side of the dinning room table while Ian stood outside. It took Amita a second to remember his promise. She looked Ian over. He was in a green button down shirt with clean shoes. He looked quite nearly respectable.

“Agent Edgerton.”

“Doctor Ramanujan. You look lovely tonight.”

“Thank you.” Amita wasn't sure if she was imagining it but Ian looked a little nervous.

“You two better go,” Charlie called out from nearly the other side of the house. “You don't want to hit traffic.”

“And where are we going?” Amita asked.

“Do you like Thai food?”

Dinner turned out to be at vegetarian Thai bistro where the maitre’d gave them a corner booth with a wink. Amita couldn't claim she was comfortable but Ian had so far been a complete gentleman, even opening doors for her. She also knew he was a kill his own dinner kind of guy so the restaurant choice must have been purely for her benefit.

They both ordered fried tofu and green curry. There was no conversation over the tofu and Amita realized that like with Charlie she'd have to be the one to break the ice. “So... you have sisters?”

Ian looked up. “Yes, two of them.”

“Older?”

“By about 20 minutes. I'm the third of triplets.”

“Wow. That must have been interesting.”

“Yeah. Well, my sisters are twins. Identical. They both came out six pounds three ounces, perfectly healthy. I came out a few minutes later just under three pounds. I'd been sort of squished between them, the doctors didn't even know I was there.” Amita cringed at the mental image. “That was the first time those two tried to kill me. They were both bigger than me until we were 15. I still have scars from some of the things they got me into.”

“Must have been hard on your parents.”

“Parent. Mom was 17, dad split way before I was born.”

“I'm sorry.”

“Don't be. I met the guy once, he's an asshole.”

“Still, couldn't have been easy on you.”

Ian chuckled and stirred his curry a bit. “My mother managed to finish up high school and join the Army. I'm an Army brat. I did not lack for strong male role models and my grandparents filled in the other gaps.”

“Colby mentioned once that he'd heard about you in Afghanistan but I wasn't sure if you were with the military.”

“The Army and I officially parted company some years ago. I occasionally get loaned around.”

Amita spooned a bit of rice into her curry. She knew she was being nosy but the enigmatic Ian Edgerton was opening up in what had to be some sort of peace offering and she knew she'd be a fool to pass up the chance.

“So, why'd you leave the Army?” Amita tried to make the question sound casual and she had a funny felling that maybe Don't Ask Don't Tell would be part of the answer.

“My boyfriend was killed,” Ian stated plainly.

Amita tried not to look shocked. She wasn't expecting that answer. “I'm... I'm sorry. Was it in combat?”

“No. A tragic accident during a live fire exercise.” Ian's voice got suddenly cold. Amita forced herself not to shift away from him.

“Why don't you sound like you believe it?”

“Because I knew a few of the bastards in his unit and on top of being bastards they were all too good to make that stupid a mistake. When I was ordered to accept the official findings I decided to lend my skills to the alphabet soup instead.”

“That must have been hard.”

Ian smirked a little. “My mother's a two-star general and both my sisters are colonels. You could hear them scream from one side of the Pentagon to the other. I was just a captain when I left but my mother had plans for me.” Ian shook his head.

“I get that. I'm finishing up a second doctorate because having just one is 'a little disappointing'. Not as disappointing as when I turned down three arranged marriages but still.”

Ian snorted. “They must have loved Charlie.”

“Not really but they're on the other side of the planet so it's not really their business anymore.”

“There's something to be said for carving your own path.”

“Yeah, there is.”

The rest of the meal was reasonably subdued and they just made some idle conversation. Amita didn't push for more. When the check arrived Ian snatched it up with lightning speed before Amita could even start reaching for it.

They were walking back out to Ian's truck when Amita suddenly found herself pushed to the ground. She was about to cry out when Ian's strong hand was clapped over her mouth. She tried to fight, her heart pounding in terror, every nightmare scenario flashing through her head. Then just as suddenly Ian lifted her back to her feet and was brushing dirt off her dress.

“Sorry,” he said quickly and looked honestly contrite. “That drug deal looked like it was about to go bad. I didn't want you standing if someone started shooting.”

Amita looked over to where a group of men on the far side of the lot were giving each other evil looks, clutching brown paper bags, and slowly backing away from each other

“Thanks,” Amita managed to stutter out but didn't exactly feel it.

“I'm sorry I scared you. I just didn't want you to get hurt. Charlie would never forgive me.”

Amita felt that fear turn to back into anger. “You should have thought about that before you kissed him.”

“Yeah, I should have.”

~

Amita wasn't sure what Ian's dinner accomplished but she half expected to hear he'd skipped town. To say she was surprised to see him slip into the back row of her first lecture on Monday was a bit on an understatement.

He listened patiently to the last five minutes of her lecture and when the students had all fled he handed her a cup of coffee. “Low fat soy, two sugars, double shot.”

“How do you know that?” Amita asked even as she took the coffee.

“I pay attention.”

Amita took a sip of the coffee and found it was perfect. “Thank you. Is there something I can help you with?”

“Nope. I just have a few weeks to kill, thought I'd poke around here a bit. I heard something about the engineering department and a water balloon rail gun.”

“They're still trying to calibrate it.”

“Maybe I can help.”

The day after the coffee incident, as Amita called it to herself, it was take out for both her and Charlie as they went through a paper grading marathon.

Amita wasn't quite a genius on Charlie's level but no one could accuse her of being an idiot. She knew what Ian was doing, he was courting. It was awkward and heavily food based but she had a feeling what she was witnessing was the mating call of the North American Solitary Sniper and it was being directed at her.

That thought lead very cleanly into a second thought. Charlie had called it a zero sum situation but if she accepted Ian, if she let another person into her almost marriage bed then Charlie would be happy, Ian would be happy, but Amita hadn't yet decided if she would be happy.

She looked at her phone and thought of all the people she usually talked to when she had boy trouble then realized that this was one of those things she was going to have to work out for herself.

~

Amita slid into bed next to Charlie.

“Charlie?”

Charlie gave a little hum from the other side of his math journal.

“Charlie, what's Ian like?”

Charlie put down the journal. “What do you mean, like?”

Amita was worried that she might be blushing a little. “What's he... like. I mean...” Amita tried waving her hands a bit.

“Oh. You mean what is he _like_? Umm... Not the way you'd imagine.”

Amita just looked at Charlie hard.

Charlie took a deep breath. “He's not... he's not scary. He's not... rough. He doesn't have a lot of friends and he's not really the type to pick up someone in a bar so when he ends up with someone he takes his time. He's careful. Even a little silly sometimes. He... Every time he treats it like it might be his last and it might be.”

Amita nodded. That wasn't the answer she'd been expecting. For some not so strange reason she pictured Edgerton as the quick hook up or whips and chains kind of guy. “What happened in Monterey?”

“What?”

“You mentioned Monterey the other day, what happened there?”

Charlie curled in on himself a bit. “We ran into each other. It was a few years back. I was at this conference I didn't want to be at and he was between cases and we just ran into each other in a cafe. I ditched the rest of the conference and he turned off his phone and we got a room at this little Bed and Breakfast and... We were just normal. Everyone thought we were a couple and we acted like it. Then the FBI called him and I had to come home and...” Charlie just shrugged. “It was a lost weekend. That's all.”

“Bullshit,” Amita said before rolling over and turning out the light.

~

Ian was almost four weeks into his vacation time and Amita was staring at her phone thinking about actually, possibly, calling her mother when there was a tap at her office door. It was Ian with coffee.

“How goes the water balloon rail gun?” she asked taking the coffee she knew would be perfect.

“Abandoned in favor of a trebuchet which uses less power and can possibly launch balloons from a barge on the Charles River.”

Amita rolled her eyes. “Half the point of pranking MIT is to not get caught.”

“They're talking about bringing in mercenaries from Boston U.”

Amita looked down at the pad full of half scribbled equations. It was one of Charlie's pads and she only understood a small part of it since it was all done in Charlie's personal, and ever changing, notation.

“Ian, do you know what a zero-sum equation is?”

“It’s part of game theory. It's a situation where whatever one person gets another person loses.” Amita raised an eyebrow. Ian shrugged. “Wikipedia.”

Amita held up Charlie's notebook. “Zero-sum. I think.”

Ian took the notebook and flipped through it. “My sisters used to have a cat. It would rip your arm off if you tried to put it in a box. I doubt there was ever a time when it was alive and dead simultaneously just because we weren't looking at it. Math and the real world don't always sync. But don't tell Charlie I said that.”

Amita laughed.

Ian's phone rang. “Edgerton... Yeah... yeah... I'll head straight there.” Ian closed his phone. “My vacation is cancelled and I'll bet your phone is about to ring.”

Amita looked down at her phone. It lit up and began to ring.

~

Amita ran her hands over her face. She knew she'd worked cases that had kept her awake longer but this was different. She stared at the live feed from the security camera. The suspect, his name was Alex, was still pacing the small room jacked up on god only knew what. The toddlers were still crowded into one corner and the teachers into another and no matter how many hours she tried she couldn't enhance the image enough to tell her how much time was left on the countdown clock strapped to the suspect’s chest.

It was moments like these when she kicked herself for not taking the Harvard job, because she knew in her heart, no matter how much talking the negotiation team did, this was going to end bloody.

Don and Ian were talking behind her. Neither of them were happy. She heard Ian actually pound the van's small table. “I get it, Eppes,” he hissed. “I don't want to take this shot. I fully understand that this is a mentally unwell individual who should be in a hospital full of drugs and is not fully aware of his actions but that does not change the fact that he's got a .45 in one hand and dead man’s switch in the other and enough C4 strapped to him to level a city block and a timer counting down to who knows when!”

Amita was glad in a million ways that she wasn't Don in this moment. Their suspect wasn't a bad person. He honestly believed that the children had been genetically engineered to spread a plague to the populace and that by destroying them he would save the world. The negotiation team was having a hell of a time talking him out of this.

Amita didn't turn around to see what expression must be on Don's face but she heard him let out a long sigh. “Are you sure you can make the shot?”

“It won't be the easiest thing I've ever done but I have faith in the Professor’s voodoo.”

“How long will it take you to set up?”

“Ten minutes.”

“Do it. I'll tell the negotiators they have ten more minutes.”

Amita kept staring at the black and white screen. There was no sound. She heard Ian then Don leave. She watched as the suspect (and oh wasn't it easier to think of him as 'the suspect’ and not as Alex) pace around the room talking to people who weren't there and waving his gun around. The camera let her see the children clutching at each other. She counted off the minutes using the time code on the monitor. Suddenly the children jumped and Alex dropped. SWAT rushed in grabbing a child each closely followed by the bomb squad.

Amita turned off the monitor. She just wanted to go home.

~

Amita was trying to eat a meal that was composed of something other than stale pastries and FBI coffee but Charlie was fidgeting. He kept glancing at his phone and over his shoulder like he was expecting a knock at the door. Amita put her fork down. “What is it?”

“What? Nothing.” Charlie dragged his focus back to his own food and tried taking a few bites before the restless energy started up again.

“Okay Charlie, seriously, what is it because I'm still damn tired and I don't want to play guessing games.”

Charlie put his fork down, his face crawling with guilt. “I... It's, Ian doesn't take shootings quite as well as people assume. Not shootings like this one. The guy needed help not a bullet to the head and Ian knew that.”

It all came out of Charlie in a rush. Amita remembered what Charlie had said. He never, not once, in all the talking they had done in the last month said he loved Ian, he said he cared for him.

Amita wondered if she could split that hair that finely. She looked at Charlie who was staring at his phone again his face drawn and his eyes dark.

“Call him.”

“What?”

Amita's words had surprised even herself. “It doesn't have to be a zero sum situation. Call him. Do...” Amita felt her words falter. “You can ask him to come over.”

Charlie's eyebrows crept up his face. “Amita...”

“Just... Just do it before I change my mind.”

Charlie snatched up his phone and stepped into the living room. Amita heard him talk but couldn't make out the words. She tried to finish her meal but her hands kept shaking.

Charlie came back in and sat down. He didn't say anything, just nibbled at his own dinner.

She was ready to give up when there was a quiet knock. “You should get that.”

Charlie rose and opened the door. Ian stood on the other side, stooped in shadow. No one moved. “You should come in, Ian,” she said just loud enough for them to hear.

Ian stepped over the threshold and the door closed. Ian and Charlie stood quietly, arms length from each other, shifting nervously. Ian looked past Charlie to her. Amita took a breath and nodded.

Ian took a step closer to Charlie.

Amita wasn't sure what kind of kiss she was expecting, probably something closer to the desperate face eating she had walked in on, but the ghosting breath of a kiss she watched Charlie and Ian share wasn't it.

They were kissing as if they were made of glass, even their touches were careful and tentative with just the tips of their fingers. Amita tried to remember if Charlie had ever kissed her like that, but then she'd never killed anyone.

Their fingers crawled slowly into each other's hair and she heard a soft moan but couldn't tell who it was from. She tried to swallow. Somewhere her mouth had gone dry.

Charlie and Ian stopped kissing and just leaned their foreheads against each other.

“Charlie?” Amita barely trusted her voice. The two men looked over to her. “I'll take the solarium tonight.”

“No.” Ian said instantly but with his hands still on Charlie.

“Ian...”

“I'll go if I'm going to throw you out of your bed.”

Amita saw Charlie's hands clutch at Ian but he said nothing just looked between the two of them.

Amita got up and approached them.

Ian pulled a hand from Charlie's body and reached it out to her. Amita looked at it for a long time. It looked strong and steady. It was a hand that had killed, probably would kill again. It was a hand that had touched the man she was supposed to marry in secret ways and if she agreed to this it would again.

She looked hard into Ian's eyes and reached an understanding within herself. She knew what Ian wanted, really. She knew what would make Charlie happy. She slowly put her hand in his. She heard Charlie let out a small breath.

She was right. Ian's hand was strong and warm. He lifted her hand and pressed his lips to the backs of her fingers, more a benediction than a kiss.

She looked to Charlie. His eyes were pleading. She nodded. He took her other hand. He laced his fingers into hers and stroked them with the same feather light touch he had used on Ian. Then he kissed her on the cheek. “We should go upstairs.” Charlie's voice was just a whisper but Amita still felt like a bomb had gone off in the room. She felt Ian's hand squeeze around hers.

Together they moved slowly up the stairs. She watched Charlie and Ian closely. At no point did they ever break contact and most of the time they were touching skin. The bedroom door opened then shut. Ian moved towards her. She moved back.

“No. You need Charlie, first.” And Amita knew she needed room to breathe.

Ian looked down at where his hand was still in Charlie's. Charlie tried reaching out to her but she shook her head. “It's okay. I... I'll watch.”

Amita wasn't sure if it was okay or if she was just messing with herself but Charlie got a hint of the slightly naughty smile that she loved.

He turned back to Ian and they kissed. There was a bit more heat in this one but it was still slow and careful. Charlie seemed to be doing most of the touching but she knew Charlie was tactile, once he trusted someone.

Ian sat on the edge of the bed. Charlie peeled off the tight black t-shirt Ian had been wearing. Amita had been trying to watch with at least a little detachment but she'd have to be dead to not appreciate the sight in front of her. Ian's body was bronzed, smooth and sculpted with dark nipples peeking up from his chest.

Charlie leaned over and licked at one of those nipples. Ian groaned and Amita felt herself flush at the sound. Charlie continued to lick and nip at Ian's chest seemingly not reacting to Ian's moans and sighs and occasional whimpers or the way Ian had laced his fingers into Charlie's hair.

Amita couldn't claim to be unaffected by the sounds. She had sat in the corner chair to watch and now found herself crossing and uncrossing her legs, squeezing them together and feeling a shameful little spark of pleasure between them.

Charlie abandoned Ian's chest for a moment and Ian picked that time to make his move, yanking Charlie's shirt up and over his head. Amita stared at the contrast. Charlie with his chest of thick black curls and five o'clock shadow that showed up at eleven and Ian slick and smooth without a hint of stubble.

Ian ran his fingers through the curls on Charlie's chest. Amita gripped the sides of the chair. That's what she did. After sex. She would lay there and run her fingers through all that hair. But she had said yes to this and really there were only so many ways for two humans to touch each other.

They were kissing again. Softly and slowly running fingers across each others bodies. Ian's eyes were squeezed shut. Amita figured it was so that he wouldn't see her, or maybe he didn't want to see anything. He spent his days always looking; looking for clues, signs, tracks, looking down the scope of a rifle. Maybe he just needed things dark.

Charlie broke off the kiss and whispered something in Ian's ear. Ian nodded and opened his eyes. Then he started to strip, with Charlie's help. Amita had been trying not to stare but Ian had sculpted legs, a perfect ass and looked to have a couple of inches on Charlie and Charlie had nothing to be ashamed of in that department.

Ian shifted back up onto the bed and closed his eyes. Charlie had kicked off his shoes but left his jeans on. He crawled between Ian's legs and sucked Ian down.

Amita felt like she'd been hit by an electric jolt at the sight, combined with a flood of wetness between her legs. Ian let out a soft cry and a small answering whimper escaped Amita's throat.

Charlie's head bobbed up and down on Ian's cock while his hands vanished between Ian's legs. Amita had always thought she had good oral sex technique but Charlie had the same focused look on his face usually reserved for math and it didn't take long before Ian was crying out, his body rolling in waves along their bed.

Charlie seemed determined to draw the process out. Every time Ian seemed to be close he would change tactics. He'd go from taking Ian deep into his throat to sucking lightly on the head while stroking with his finger tips. Then he would attack it with long licks. Amita knew she'd never be able to watch Charlie eat an ice cream cone again. She might also have to ask Charlie about any other men in his past because genius or not some things take practice and the way Ian was now trashing and crying out spoke of a lot of practice.

Then Charlie stopped. All Amita could hear was Ian panting and her own pulse thrumming in her ears. Charlie got off the bed and stripped off his jeans. Ian raised his head to watch. Amita tried to flick her eyes anywhere but still they landed on Ian's as they both watched Charlie strip.

Charlie might have been the less conventionally handsome of the Eppes brothers but she had always liked his looks and the first time she'd gotten his pants off she had been more than pleased. Ian was licking his lips.

Charlie rummaged around in his bed side table then tossed a condom and bottle of lube on the bed. Amita knew he had it but he had always claimed the lube was for when she was out of town. He quite pointedly did not look at her but his cheeks flushed as he did it. Amita had a feeling they would be having more than one talk once this was settled.

Ian lay back down and closed his eyes again. He also spread his legs. Amita wasn't sure what she was expecting but as Charlie squeezed some lube onto his fingers she knew it wasn't this.

She couldn't see much of what Charlie was doing but Ian's breath had become ragged again and his hips were jerking without rhythm. His knuckles were white as he gripped their blankets.

“Charlie,” Ian groaned out.

Amita jumped. It was the first thing anyone had said in ages.

Charlie stopped whatever he’d been doing. He opened the condom, slid it on and slicked it with more lube. Ian's eyes were open again. He lifted his knees and spread his legs. Charlie grabbed his hips and pushed in.

A groan came from all three of them.

Charlie leaned over Ian, drawing him into a kiss even as his hips moved at a steady pace.

Amita dug her nails into her palms. She knew what that felt like. What exactly Charlie's thick heavy cock moving at a slow and steady pace felt like. It was a pace designed to drive someone right out of their mind and watching Charlie side in and out of Ian only made her crave it herself.

She sat on her hands to keep them from sliding between her legs.

Ian cried out again, his eyes squeezed shut and suddenly the air was full of the smell of fresh semen mingling with the smell of sweat.

Still, Charlie kept going, never changing his pace or taking his eyes from Ian who had squeezed a single tear out from under each. Charlie leaned forward again and licked each tear from Ian's face. It was a move that was raw and possessive and some small part of Amita's mind began to understand what she really seeing. A large more primitive part of her mind was in the process of taking over as she gave up and rubbed at the seam of her jeans.

She thought she might be getting close herself when Charlie's rhythm finally changed and with a long drawn out cry he let himself go, his fingers digging deep into Ian's hips. Amita knew that was going to leave bruises but she had a feeling that was half the point.

Charlie managed not to pitch forward but rather froze in place, Ian’s legs wrapped around his waist. Amita stopped rubbing herself and watched. Ian slowly unwrapped his legs and Charlie’s fingers were carefully pried away from Ian’s hips. Amita could see white finger shaped marks that quickly became red. Once that was done Charlie moved quickly, stripping away the condom and cleaning Ian up with a bath towel from that morning. He still hadn’t looked at Amita when he collapsed at Ian’s side.

It was Ian who rolled his head and caught Amita’s eye. Her heart rate had slowed a bit but she still felt shaky and more than a little frustrated. Ian opened his hand. There was still plenty of space on the bed. Her space really. All of that had happened happened mostly on Charlie’s side. She looked at Ian. His face was open and peaceful.

Finally Charlie lifted his head and looked at her. There was sadness in his face, guilt. It was close to the look he used to get when they were first dating and he found an error in her math and didn’t want to say anything.

She crossed the room and sat on the empty expanse of bed. Charlie reached out his hand to her. She looked at it a long time rapidly forming her own equations, wondering if this could really work. Charlie’s eyes were pleading. So were Ian’s but she was sure it wasn’t for himself.

She took a breath and rubbed the math from her mental chalkboard. She laid her hand in Charlie’s and a moment later Ian’s hand covered hers.


End file.
